What is it like to work on the discovery phase of your project? My experience

Hi Hackers! A lot of you have already created some products yourself. And it is enjoyable to read about them. Personally, I was only a part of a big team that was making a messenger like Slack. So I thought it would be interesting for someone to read about my experience.

I worked closely with a project manager as a part of the business analysis team, which was a great experience. This project was needed for inside usage, making the whole process a bit easier. But I tell you what, that wasn't easy at all.

If you have already tried to launch your product, you have to know some basic structures of product development. Something from "idea in your head" to the "ok, Google does, anyone has already created it" to the "hire Java developer." Of course, I'm joking, but some projects are done like this. Unfortunately, not in this case.

Big companies usually go from the pre-selling stage – where they discuss why you actually need it, to the point of launching the product in a very long road map. More about the stages of software development is here.

But I want to talk about something more interesting than choosing what color your header would be. The discovery phase in a project helps decrease risks and expenses and defines the product's market fit. Also, you can receive a clear technical description of the project and an estimation of the required costs at this stage. To make it even more straightforward, if you know what you want from your project, there are many more chances that you will successfully launch the product.

Let's talk more about it. Many people participate in it, but it mostly depends on the project you are working on, so I'll not pay too much attention to it.

But what would be interesting and probably useful to know is the activities included in a project discovery phase I used to work with. Mind that all activities may differ from project to project, but some of them are essential. So let's discuss the main activities I went through during the discovery phase.

Requirement analysis

Here, the client's vision of the product and their needs for its key functionality must be determined. Then, our team will need to conduct several interviews with stakeholders, collect information regarding their vision, needs, and main goals, and document the gathered data for the in-depth analysis.

Understanding the specifics of the domain

I don't know what kind of project you are working on, but if it is something complicated, you might need a help of a professional here. Without knowledge of the domain, a business analyst cannot accurately analyze the query. The business analyst must deeply examine your product's domain, specifics, industry standards, market trends, brand specifics, and many other aspects. All the gathered information can help properly outline the business strategy, evaluate the product-market fit, and set the right goals.

Defining target audience

That's the easy one. In my case, it was a product for in-house use, so there is not too much to talk about. But for you, it is essential to put yourself in the shoes of your product's potential users. Ask yourself questions about who will use your product, their interests, preferences, and what issues we can help them solve. The target audience research phase is incredibly important because users' satisfaction will determine the success of your solution.

Competitor analysis

For many of you, it could be the only and most important part of development. You can create a functionality list and performs competitive research, ideally in cooperation with the UX researcher. Knowing about competitors` strengths and weaknesses enables you to have a good handle on industry standards and market details while demonstrating what you can do better than your direct competitors. If you need an example - something like this might help.

Documenting the requirements

With this activity, research into the project's technological execution is taken up. That's a part where I drafted a specific product requirement document containing all of the project's technical criteria. This process results in creating a set of rules, selecting core architectural patterns, and forming a project's technological stack. I'm not sure if this part is for you, especially if you are the only one it the project, but I wish you to scale your company sometime!

Time and cost estimation

After all the completed tasks, research, and analysis, we were finally able to calculate the budget and time required to deliver this project, ensuring that the estimation did not exceed the resources at our disposal. You can compare this as a conclusion.

It sounds complicated, but in the end it saves a lot of time and money. Here you can find the whole process is described in detail.